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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Vedanta Ltd is set to overhaul its dividend policy, moving away from a structure that guarantees a fixed minimum payout to a more flexible, board-driven approach, which may impact the sentiments of investors who have long relied on the company’s predictable returns.Earlier, the mining giant was committed to paying at least 30% of profits as dividends, and now the board will have the flexibility to pay 30% or the amount they deem fit, chief financial officer Ajay Goel disclosed the move during a post-earnings call with analysts last week.Speaking on the change, Goel said the company’s dividend framework will transition from a “prescriptive” model to a more “principle-based” one. Vedanta's FY26 dividend payout was the lowest level since FY21.The timing is significant as Vedanta is in the midst of splitting into five separately listed entities, and the demerged entities will have a similar but separate dividend policy.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In a market crowded with occasionwear labels, standing out can be difficult, especially for brands working with traditional textiles and embroidery techniques.But in five years, ITRH has established itself through its use of crafts such as kalamkari, chikankari, Madhubani and gota weaving, combining traditional techniques with contemporary silhouettes and a more maximal aesthetic. Its embellished jaal dupatta worn by actor Kareena Kapoor Khan last year, for instance, has become one of the label's most recognisable signatures. Earlier this year, ITRH, which now has a sub-brand ITRH Two that offers more modern pieces, made its international debut at the Dubai Fashion Week.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The AI hack we unlocked today is based on: ChatGPT Images 2.0 (powered by gpt-image-2).What problem does it solve? Most teams generating images with AI have the same frustration: the image looks good, but the moment there's text in it- a headline, a data label, a notice in Hindi- it falls apart. Misspelt words, garbled scripts, numbers that don't match what you asked for.This isn't a niche problem.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: The Centre is exploring partnerships with real estate-focused global investors to form real estate investment trusts (Reits) that will house optic fibre networks and land assets of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), multiple people with knowledge of the matter said. The assets under consideration could also be repurposed for data centre infrastructure, potentially widening investor appeal.The plan, still at an early stage, is part of a broader push to accelerate government asset monetization following the Union budget for 2026-27, which proposed using Reit structures to recycle state-owned assets and attract institutional capital.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A regulatory effort to keep the national power grid stable and make green power more reliable may wreck the revenues of producers and potentially lead to tariff hikes, industry executives warned. The regulator has proposed steep penalties for companies which are under- or over-producing power, rattling solar and wind power firms dependent on the vagaries of weather.In the power sector, a deviation settlement mechanism (DSM) penalizes producers when what they deliver to discoms differs from what they promised.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Luxury retailer Burgundy Brand Collective aims to cross ₹200 crore in revenuein FY27, as the Mumbai-based company bets on rising premium consumption beyond India’s top metros.The company, which has introduced brands such as Royce’ Chocolate, Onitsuka Tiger, Jacadi Paris and Ligne Roset to India, plans to invest about ₹100 crore to scale its multi-category portfolio, cofounder Samir Gadhok told Mint.Burgundy, which reported sales of ₹120 crore in FY24, also plans to nearly double its store count over the next three years to about 65 stores.The expansion comes as India’s luxury consumption story broadens to newer cities where affluent consumers are spending more across categories from fashion and food to home and lifestyle.Burgundy’s approach has been to build across categories rather than deepen a single vertical. "We want to be everything to one customer, rather than one thing to everyone,” said Gadhok.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The top private and state-owned defence companies are looking at a ₹15 trillion revenue opportunity over the next five fiscal years, according to brokerage Dam Capital on 27 April, as rising government capital expenditure and an export push combine to reshape the country's arms sector into a global supplier.The windfall is being spread across five big firms, Hindustan Aeronautics, Bharat Electronics, Bharat Dynamics, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, and Larsen & Toubro's Precision Engineering & Systems division, with exports projected to be over ₹72,000 crore for the period, according to industry projections and company disclosures. Defence exports already hit ₹38,424 crore in FY26, as per defence ministry data, and the government has set a target of ₹50,000 crore by FY29 at a compounded annual growth rate of 9%.The exports are being driven by two key points: increasing localized production of light to heavy artillery, and the latter leading to exports of India-made defence equipment to regions such as West Asia, central and south-east Asia, and Africa as well.This is a change for the country.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Indian equities ended the holiday-truncated week only marginally higher, as stalled talks between the US and Iran and president Donald Trump's rejection of Tehran's proposal to remove the blockade of Hormuz pushed crude prices to a three-year high of $126 per barrel.Still, benchmark indices posted their best monthly show in nearly three years in a relief rally, as investors piled into beaten-down stocks after US and Iran announced a ceasefire early in April following more than a month of conflict.Surging crude prices pushed the rupee to a record low of 95.32 against the US dollar, sparking concerns that a fragile West Asia truce could unravel, intensifying inflationary and margin pressures. The weakening currency also accelerated foreign outflows, further dampening market sentiment.The Nifty 50 slipped 0.3% to 23,997.55, while the Sensex fell 0.8% to 76,913.5 on Thursday amid geopolitical concerns.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Blackstone-backed Bagmane Prime Office Reit, which is set to launch its ₹3,405-crore initial public offering (IPO) next week, expects strong leasing momentum led by global capability centres (GCCs) as it looks to acquire assets and grow its portfolio, CEO Richard Hugh Andrew said.The IPO, which opens on 5 May, comprises an issue of fresh shares worth ₹2,390 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) worth up to ₹1,015 crore by a Blackstone affiliate. The proceeds from the new shares will be used to part-fund the acquisitions of Luxor at Bagmane Capital Tech Park, a million sq ft completed asset, and a 93% stake in Bagmane Rio Business Park, a 1.1 million sq. ft leased building.India currently has four listed office Reits—Mindspace Business Parks Reit, Embassy Office Parks Reit, Brookfield India Real Estate Trust (Biret) and Knowledge Realty Trust.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Most of us move through our days submerged in routines, juggling everyday responsibilities. Every now and then, we come up for air, a brief pause to disconnect and reset. But that’s getting harder.Even these moments are now crowded with conversations about war, fragile markets and the growing impact of artificial intelligence on jobs.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s outsourcing industry, its largest white-collar employer, is a juggernaut that has all but stopped moving. The dollar revenue at the top five software-services exporters has grown slower than 3% for 10 straight quarters—a shadow of the double-digit expansion in the previous two decades. As these companies squeeze hiring to survive the existential challenge posed by artificial intelligence (AI), the aftershocks are starting to upend everything from real-estate demand to mortgage-underwriting norms.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd is undergoing a major restructuring, splitting itself into five independent listed companies: Vedanta Aluminium, Vedanta Oil & Gas, Vedanta Power, Vedanta Iron & Steel, and parent Vedanta Ltd, which will house the zinc and silver businesses through Hindustan Zinc and act as an incubator for new opportunities.While this move is aimed at unlocking value, it creates short-term disruption in the derivatives (futures and options) market. Mint breaks down the process.All futures and options (F&O) contracts of Vedanta will expire on 29 April, irrespective of their original expiry date, Nimish Maheshwari, co-founder of Beat the Street, wrote in a note.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Bill Ackman wants to capitalize on his social-media fame by opening his hedge-fund strategy to the masses. It remains to be seen how enthusiastic the masses are.The billionaire investor plans to stage a unique double listing Wednesday, taking public both a new stock-picking fund, Pershing Square USA, and his hedge-fund management company, Pershing Square.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A new craze has taken hold of Silicon Valley in recent months. Techies looking to prove they are among the vanguard of artificial-intelligence adoption have taken to “tokenmaxxing”, competing against one another to burn through the most tokens (as the chunks of text processed by AI models are known). Between January and March, the weekly tokens processed by OpenRouter, a marketplace for accessing models, quadrupled.As demand for AI soars, the industry behind it is struggling to keep up.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Quick home services startup Snabbit has raised $56 million as part of its Series D round, co-led by Susquehanna Venture Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investments' (MAVI), Unicorn Growth Fund, and Bertelsmann India Investments (BII).New investors on the company’s captable include MAVI, global marketplace investor FJ Labs and Susquehanna VC.“This round is really a mandate to build for the long-term,” said company founder and chief executive Aayush Agarwal in an interview with Mint. “It's about deepening our presence in existing markets, launching in new micro markets in cities we're live in and experimenting and launching new categories that increase the customer's wallet share.”India’s home services market was estimated at around $60 billion in FY25 and is projected to grow to nearly $100 billion, according to Redseer Strategy Consultants.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Wu Jingliang, a human resources manager in Beijing, got a raise at the beginning of the year, and the first financial move her family made was to increase their monthly savings rate.“I don’t dare spend, because I have a child. The child will need schooling later, and then there’s marriage or buying a home—we definitely need to save up a sum of money for him,” she told Barron’s in a phone interview.Conversations with other Chinese consumers revealed similar caution, all relating to feelings of financial insecurity.Beijing keeps rolling out consumption stimulus, and Chinese consumers keep responding with less enthusiasm than policymakers hoped.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.From fertilizer production falling to near five-year low in March, to foodgrain stocks surging to nearly three times the mandated buffer, to rural patients spending more than urban counterparts at government hospitals, to major IT firms declaring their FY26 earnings — here is a compilation of this week's news in numbers.India's fertilizer production fell to a near five-year low in March. Shortages of inputs, such as liquefied natural gas and sulphur, caused by the war in West Asia, dragged output down by 24.6% year-on-year.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The AI hack we unlocked today is based on: Skills in Chrome.Here’s a situation most of us don’t notice because we’ve accepted it as normal: you craft a great AI prompt that works perfectly—say, one that extracts key information from any product page. It works.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.An industry body has asked the government to scrap a proposal to ban audit firms from offering non-audit services to clients for three years after their term ends.It said the move will lead to operational inefficiencies, increased costs and hurdles for large corporate groups, and force companies to depend on smaller auditors, which could compromise service quality in complex areas.Companies including EY, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, BDO and Grant Thornton Bharat, among other audit firms, will be severely impacted if amendments proposed to the Companies Act of 2013 are implemented. These companies offer other advisory services besides audits for clients.The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), a body representing companies across sectors, submitted its comments and suggestions on the Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, last week, Mint has learnt.According to the proposed clause in the bill, an auditor or audit firm shall not provide, directly or indirectly, any non-audit services to a company or its holding company or subsidiary.